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Introduction

Ys Origin is the ninth title in the Ys series, a long running series of Action RPGs developed by Falcom that started all the way back in 1987 and is still going strong. It was originally released for PC in Japan on December 21st 2006. Six years later XSEED translated and published the game to Steam on the 1st June, 2012.
The engine driving this game follows a similar gameplay engine employed in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim and refined in Ys: The Oath in Felghana. The style of graphics was used throughout a great deal of Falcom's releases over the 2000's including the Trails series.

In terms of Ys games to get you into the series Origin is definitely a good place to start. It has a little something for old and new players alike and in terms of content you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck, for better or worse. This game has both good and bad elements mixed in but overall it's a solid game with plenty of content to keep players coming back for more.

Following the plot revelations of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, Falcom had to make elaborate revisions to the plot of previously established games in the series, the most important of which allowed Falcom to make an origin story for their first game: Ancient Ys Vanished.
The story takes place 700 years before the events of Ys I:

There once was a wildly prosperous land named Ys, ruled by the twin Goddesses Reah and Feena and their six priestly retainers. It was a veritable paradise, with all its residents able to enact miracles at will through the use of magic  a power granted them by a holy artifact known as the Black Pearl.

One day, without warning, enormous demons marched upon the land, bringing death and devastation in their wake. Their numbers and their might were too much for the knights and sorcerers of Ys to handle, so the people sought shelter within their holiest of temples at the top of the tallest mountain. In a desperate attempt to keep these people safe, the twin Goddesses used the power of the Black Pearl to tear this temple from the ground and raise it into the heavens, away from the ever-growing threat below.

The demons were determined, however. They erected an enormous tower from which further attacks were launched, bringing the battle into the skies. An all-out war had begun, with forces concentrated in Solomon Shrine above and the Devil's Tower below.

And it was amidst this chaos that the twin Goddesses stole away into the night. No one was told of their departure  not even the Six Priests who served them. It seemed clear that they'd gone back to the surface, but no one knew exactly why. Only one thing was certain: Without the Goddesses, Ys could not survive.

Intent on finding their missing deities, the Six Priests organized a search party of the most elite knights and sorcerers in the land. These soldiers were given a single mission: Secure the safety of Ladies Reah and Feena, and bring them back to Solomon Shrine alive and well.

But in the desolate, ruined remains of Ys, there's only one place they could have gone...

The Devil's Tower itself.

Source: XSEED's Ys Origin site

Covering all this game has to offer is going to be an absurd trial as the game has about four times the amount of content Oath in Felghana had. Not to mention the game has multiple playthroughs as different characters. We're going to cover all of them, but we're going to mix things up to keep it interesting.

Arc 1 - Training Mittens
The first playthrough will be a Hard mode playthrough as Yunica Tovah. Solo commentary, same sort of deal as the Oath in Felghana LP. This run should get updated pretty regularly as I just record content whenever I feel like it.

Arc 2 - Hugo's Bizarre Adventure
For this second playthrough I'll be doing something I've never tried before. The playthrough will be a Normal mode Hugo Fact run and I won't be playing! I'm putting the controller in the hands of my friend, Deep-Friar, who will be playing through the game for the first time. He won't be alone, however, I'll be sitting behind him guiding him along giving him possibly useful information but more than likely just being an asshole. This run will get updated in large bursts as it's harder to get Deeps in for recording than it is me just recording solo. I also have no concept of a backlog.

Arc 3 - Knightmare
The third playthrough will be a complete runthrough of the game as Toal on Nightmare difficulty. This series will tackle the game as the most difficult and most fun character, showing off how much of the game is altered specifically for this character. This story is not unlocked until you have completed at least one of the previous arcs, and I recommend you watch either Yunica or Hugo's story before this one.
This playthrough will be talking about the game as though people have played it at least once, will discuss some finer points of the systems in the game, and will contain spoilers for other entries in the series.
Commentary will be done with a mixture of guests I'll pull in from places so expect derails and being generally offensive to everyone.

All playthroughs will be 100%, we are going to put this game in the ground.

Ys I & II Chronicles, Oath in Felghana, Ys Origin and Ys VI are now all available in English on both Steam and GoG! Support the developers and publishers by picking up a copy and maybe we'll finally see a release of Zwei!!2.

Adverts by Project Wonderful

Hey, adverts can be pretty annoying, right? I know how it is; I don't like it when I'm browsing a site and I accidentally trigger an awful flash ad where a big, freakish iPhone starts singing at me. That's why here on the Let's Play Archive we'll only ever serve up nice banners that behave properly.

The Archive is a personally-funded hobby, and without donation/advert revenue we won't be able to keep it going. Please, if you enjoy the site, consider adding us to your AdBlock whitelist—it really does make a difference.